Drug smugglers attempting to hide cannabis worth almost £3,000 in a painting of former Arsenal star
Emmanuel Adebayor made the mistake of addressing the package it was in to a home in Tottenham – the team’s arch rival.

Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor during training (MUFC/PA)

Eagle-eyed border officials seized the framed picture as it passed through the international postal hub in Coventry from the footballer’s native Togo.

Suspicions were raised when officials realised the art work was heading to a Tottenham address – a big no-no for anyone living in that particular area of North London.

The current Man City star had no involvement in the cunning ploy.

The ambitious trafficking attempt and several others were revealed by UK Border Agency today.

Drugs have been intercepted in bottles of Baileys, packets of peanuts, woven baskets and even yams that had been opened and glued back together.

A Belfast-bound birthday card was also found to be holding cocaine worth £40,000.

Head of Border Force Brodie Clark said the concealed drugs were all found during searches at ports, airports and postal sorting depots in 2010.

He said: ‘These smuggling attempts show the lengths that organised criminals will go to in a bid to get drugs into the UK.

‘Criminals are prepared to invest large sums of money to come up with ever better concealment methods because they know the potential profits from the awful trade in harmful drugs are considerable.

‘However, the smugglers are no match for the skill of our officers and the state-of-the-art technology at their disposal.’